The Avd Oldtimer Grand Prix 2013 was staged 9-11 August at the famed Nurburgring Circuit in Germany, with 600 participants and in excess of 50,000 spectators enjoying the 41st running of the historical races. This year’s Oldtimer saw a total of twelve races and a large number of demonstration runs and presentations that put motorsport and automobile history at the forefront.
Two sports car highlights saw a keen focus at the 2013 Oldtimer Grand Prix – the 90th Anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 30th Anniversary of Stefan Bellof’s record run at the Nordschleife.
Six overall Le Mans winners were present at this year’s event, including the 1999 BMW LMR V12 that Joachim Winkelhock drove for demo laps before the major BMW races. Swiss driver Marc Surer drove the 1000-hp Brabham BMW BT52 Turbo that Nelson Piquet piloted to the Formula 1 World Championship in the 1983 season.
The Porsche 956 in which Stefan Bellof laid down the fastest lap ever driven in the ‘Green Hell’ returned to the legendary circuit for a series of demonstration laps, driven by racing great Derek Bell. Porsche also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the legendary 911 with a parade and with a selection of 911s on track.
Jaguar Heritage Racing celebrated a double win, with Alex Buncombe successfully campaigning both the C-type and E-type on the Grand Prix circuit. Saturday’s Gentleman Drivers Race, featuring period GT race cars built before 1965, saw Alex beat off stiff competition in a close 50-minute race. Despite Alex qualifying in pole position, he saw his advantage snatched away as he got stuck behind other entrants on the grid and ultimately had to start from the pits. He soon got back to the front of the pack and went on to win in the race-proven 1961 E-type, which carries the registration: ‘1196 WK’.
Jaguar Heritage Racing’s second victory of the weekend came on Sunday in the Two Seater GT race (1960/1961 with Le Mans start), which Alex won in a C-type once owned by Formula One legend Juan Manuel Fangio.
Buncombe said, “What a fantastic weekend for Jaguar, and for me personally. I won the E-type Challenge race here in 2012, so to come back this year and win again is extremely satisfying, especially in the circumstances where I lost my pole advantage to congestion on the grid. The victory in the C-type was equally as sweet, and I feel very privileged to be part of this great Jaguar Heritage Racing team in such significant historic race cars.”
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Similar to the 2011 and 2012 historic car races, photographer Julien Mahiels also documented the 2013 Oldtimer Grand Prix, offering the following excellent picture gallery that shows the entrants battling the famous Nurburgring. We split up the 420 pictures Julien captured into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest. The second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Julien, visit julienmahiels.net.
Oldtimer Grand Prix 2013 – Featured Photo Gallery
[Source: AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix; photos: Julien Mahiels]
